Downtown Danbury parks and memorials taking shape

Published 3:43 pm, Friday, May 19, 2017

Work is underway on a small memorial park on Main Street near Danbury police headquarters. Friday, May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn.

Work is underway on a small memorial park on Main Street near Danbury police headquarters. Friday, May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn.

Photo: Rob Ryser / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Work is underway on a small memorial park on Main Street near Danbury police headquarters. Friday, May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn.

Work is underway on a small memorial park on Main Street near Danbury police headquarters. Friday, May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn.

Photo: Rob Ryser / Hearst Connecticut Media

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Danbury plans to install a 100-foot flagpole at the Civil War monument on Main Street, near the Danbury Library. The project includes the cleaning of the monument and a new walkway. friday, May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn. less

Danbury plans to install a 100-foot flagpole at the Civil War monument on Main Street, near the Danbury Library. The project includes the cleaning of the monument and a new walkway. friday, May 19, 2017, in ... more

Photo: Rob Ryser / Hearst Connecticut Media

Image 4 of 9

Danbury plans to install a 100-foot flagpole at the Civil War monument on Main Street, near the Danbury Library. The project includes the cleaning of the monument and a new walkway. friday, May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn. less

Danbury plans to install a 100-foot flagpole at the Civil War monument on Main Street, near the Danbury Library. The project includes the cleaning of the monument and a new walkway. friday, May 19, 2017, in ... more

Photo: Rob Ryser / Hearst Connecticut Media

Image 5 of 9

Workers are constructing Heritage Plaza at City Hall one block west of Main Street to honor important figures in the citys history. The plaza will include monuments, a walkway, and a digital sign. Friday, May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn. less

Workers are constructing Heritage Plaza at City Hall one block west of Main Street to honor important figures in the citys history. The plaza will include monuments, a walkway, and a digital sign. Friday, May ... more

Photo: Rob Ryser / Hearst Connecticut Media

Image 6 of 9

Workers are constructing Heritage Plaza at City Hall one block west of Main Street to honor important figures in the citys history. The plaza will include monuments, a walkway, and a digital sign. Friday, May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn. less

Workers are constructing Heritage Plaza at City Hall one block west of Main Street to honor important figures in the citys history. The plaza will include monuments, a walkway, and a digital sign. Friday, May ... more

Photo: Rob Ryser / Hearst Connecticut Media

Image 7 of 9

Workers are constructing Heritage Plaza at City Hall one block west of Main Street to honor important figures in the citys history. The plaza will include monuments, a walkway, and a digital sign. Friday, May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn. less

Workers are constructing Heritage Plaza at City Hall one block west of Main Street to honor important figures in the citys history. The plaza will include monuments, a walkway, and a digital sign. Friday, May ... more

Photo: Rob Ryser / Hearst Connecticut Media

Image 8 of 9

CityCenter Danbury has arranged for eight art sculptures to be installed in a cluster on the 200 block of Main Street. On Friday, workers were building frames for the concrete bases. May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn. less

CityCenter Danbury has arranged for eight art sculptures to be installed in a cluster on the 200 block of Main Street. On Friday, workers were building frames for the concrete bases. May 19, 2017, in Danbury, ... more

Photo: Rob Ryser / Hearst Connecticut Media

Image 9 of 9

CityCenter Danbury has arranged for eight art sculptures to be installed in a cluster on the 200 block of Main Street. On Friday, workers were building frames for the concrete bases. May 19, 2017, in Danbury, Conn. less

CityCenter Danbury has arranged for eight art sculptures to be installed in a cluster on the 200 block of Main Street. On Friday, workers were building frames for the concrete bases. May 19, 2017, in Danbury, ... more

Photo: Rob Ryser / Hearst Connecticut Media

Downtown Danbury parks and memorials taking shape

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DANBURY - City leaders are at work building new attractions at four locations along the Main Street corridor to inspire interest in the downtown and fuel revitalization.

The work includes construction of a small memorial park at the top of Main Street near the police station, a redesigned Civil War monument with a new 100-foot flagpole in the heart of downtown, and the creation of Heritage Plaza at City Hall, one block west of Main Street.

“We are adding greenspace and more places where people can reflect and enjoy the Main Street area,” Mayor Mark Boughton said. “We are starting to do more on our part to make sure Main Street looks good for the type of business we are trying to recruit.”

The Main Street corridor attractions include an installation of art sculpture clustered under the shade trees on the 200 block. The street art, sponsored by the downtown special district CityCenter Danbury, will feature eight sculptures on the sidewalk and public green.

On Friday, CityCenter Executive Director P.J. Prunty pointed out that the sculpture cluster would be in front of two vacant storefronts.

“I’m not saying these storefronts will be filled because the sculptures are here,” he said, as workers built square frames to form the installations’ concrete bases. “But we think this will create interest.”

The street sculptures will be the first of the warm-weather attractions to come on line in early June.

A ceremony is scheduled for Flag Day, June 14, with Civil War re-enactors and the Danbury High School marching band, the mayor said.

The idea is to create a downtown focal point - much as Newtown’s iconic 100-foot flagpole has become a symbol of the town itself.

One block west of the library, at City Hall, workers are building a monument park called Heritage Plaza that will mark key figures in city history, along with a recently installed bronze sculpture of a hatter at his work station. In its heyday, Danbury was the hat-making capital of the world.

“Heritage Plaza will also have a digital sign like the one at Danbury High School,” Boughton said.

The last attraction to come on line will be the memorial park, on a pocket of green between Garamella Boulevard and East Franklin Street. The city bought an empty house on the lot in 2015 and razed it, deciding to build a park in honor of fallen members of the city’s police and fire departments.

The memorial park, designed by the same architect responsible for Danbury Library Plaza and Elmwood Park, is not expected to be completed until late summer or early fall.

Plans call for an arched entrance way off Main Street, a garden with evergreens, flowering shrubs and perennials, and two granite monuments, architect Jane Didona said.

“These parks are going to become more and more important as the city grows,” Didona said. “Parks are important places in any vibrant city.”

Boughton said he hopes the Main Street corridor attractions would inspire Main Street property owners to invest in their own improvements.

“We think these will be more things that people can point to and say “See, the city is doing its part, maybe we should do our part, too.’”